My manager is now spending several work hours each week driving to and from an office where none of their direct reports or other immediate team members are located. What a significant impact on people leaders’ ability to be available to and collaborate with those who need their time and support most! I hope leadership takes this loss of meaningful (and the most essential) collaboration into consideration as they contemplate the impact of this unnecessary requirement on people leaders, who in many cases are already burdened with far too many direct reports to be maximally effective. Now they have even less time to be available to those who depend on them the most.
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@14a Unless you have hands-free setup for your car, it might be illegal depending on the state you reside in.
@106 Stand your ground on WWD - Working while Driving. I had a previous company come after me for the same thing and they lost! The insanity has to stop. No job is worth your life. I have an insurance app on my phone that increases my vehicle insurance premiums if I use the cell phone while my car is moving. NO! I am not answering nor participating in work calls while driving over an hour to/from the office the way traffic is around my PulsePoint location. Scr_w them!
@106 good for you! I would have done the same and glad you emailed HR. It protects you. Others should do the same no calls or meetings in the car during commute!
@y9 Cold day in he-l when I do 1:1 when I am driving - my director called me recently and I did not respond until I got to the office - asked if I did not get her call - said - yes I ignored it. I am driving - she actually said "can't you do 2 things at once" call ended with me saying "where is the policy that requires me to drive and talk" and I sent an email to HR and cc her - if I am still here next week I will let you know the outcome
Unfreakin real
@y9 I can’t hear my manager when she is in the office talking to me. I can hear loud a-s people talking around her. There always seems to be interference so 1:1 are pretty useless now. So you are right, the worker bees are suffering from RTO mandate. I hope your manager doesn’t have an accident while she is on a call with you.
My manager has done their 1:1’s from the car during their commute. I worry when they are clearly engaged in our conversation that they could get into an accident. If they do, they should sue the company. It’s not fair for them to have to work additional extra hours because the company values their ability to keep a corporate desk chair warm more than them being accessible to their team.
My manager is in the same boat. No associates in the office location where they have to go into and spending over an hour+ each way. Same for me. My whole team or any of my collaborators are not in the location I can go to. They're all across the country. It's the biggest waste of my time, money, and patience. It's ridiculous.
@bq Elevoids ... love it!
Let us remember that RTO has not been decreed for the reasons stated in Elevance Health's internal propaganda. It is a function of 1980s Gail wanting to service the various industries that benefit from RTO (automobile industry, petroleum industry, restaurant industry, local governments, etc.) and to ensure that all her Elevoids have less work-life balance and keep their aching noses to the grindstone.
I genuinely feel bad for my manager who lives in another state and does NOT complain to her staff about this 3x per week requirement. However, it is obvious it is burdensome while there is already so much on her plate, working long hours, and rarely uses that unlimited PTO. I really hope we don't lose her, such an amazing asset to our Team.
@OP I suspect you're one of said people leaders, but absolutely agree with your point. It's strange that the hard-on for collaboration only applies to strangers you pass in the hallway or other commuters stuck in traffic with you, and NOT the teams you actually work with or manage. So d-mb.
For the ones who only have 7 direct reports I don’t know how this is too many people to manage. What I do know is the background noise or interference on wireless headsets make it impossible to communicate with her on my one on ones. Very distracting